My wife Jen and I moved back to my childhood home last year to care for my aging mother and her husband.

***Please have a look at Jen's profile as well and submit your requests through her.***
(http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/jenbowden/) It's much easier for us to keep track of things if all the requests come through the same person and Jen has more free time these days to coordinate things.

I'm a pretty jovial gregarious sort, a bit loud and often sarcastic (I grew up in New Jersey, that's just how we are). I have lived in several countries, spent a total of 18 months at sea on research ships, traveled fairly extensively, and lived for long periods out of the back of my truck. I love meeting new and interesting people and experiencing new places. I favor experiences over things (although certain things, such as sailboats and camping gear, facilitate cool experiences). My main goal is to lead an interesting life without screwing anyone over in the process and I hope to leave the world a better place than I found it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I was an exchange student in Chile for a year when I was 18 and it was a transformative experience for me. Since then I’ve travelled and worked in many countries, and those experiences have been a defining part of my life. I feel that cultural exchange helps us to become better people and create a better world, and I want to help people experience this. Also, international travel is expensive and couchsurfing makes it accessible to more people, which is an admirable thing.

While we love hosting and surfing, we're also hoping to meet other local hosts as well. Upon moving back home after 25 years I've discovered that I don't have much of a social life here (my friends all grew up and moved away) and couchsurfing seems to self-select for interesting adventurous types so I thought it would also be a good way to meet interesting locals.

Interests

In my spare time I've been working on designs for a teardrop camper trailer, an off-grid house, and various camping gear (some of which I've built). We've also become quite interested in the minimalism movement over the last few years. Ask me about any them if you want me to talk your ear off ;-)

• design
• cooking
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• backpacking
• kayaking
• camping
• scuba diving
• sailing
• rock climbing
• geology
• mountain biking
• sustainability
• off-grid living
• green energy
• blacksmithing
• carpentry
• alternative construction

Music, Movies, and Books

MOVIES: Office Space, The Big Lebowski, Stranger than Fiction, Cashback, Motorcycle Diaries. Lots of other stuff, but those are some of my favorites these days.

MUSIC: just about everything, some recent favorites are Ozomatli, Manu Chao, Audioslave, John Coltrane, Black Keys, The White Buffalo, Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound, Shakey Graves.

BOOKS: Road Fever (Tim Cahill), anything by Mark Twain, Christopher Moore, Jenny Lawson, Malcolm Gladwell. I love to read anything that makes me laugh and/or think. Recently read the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor and they were great!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Backpacking in Las Torres del Paine (Chile), sailing to Antarctica and seeing the southern lights, helicopter exploration in interior Alaska (there's nothing quite like the feeling of stepping off a helicopter onto the side of a mountain).

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm always happy to share anything I'm knowledgeable about and learn new things. We've got some great recipes to share and I can teach you a lot about geothermal energy and geology as well as a little about blacksmithing. I'm also very interested in alternative construction and off-grid living.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I would love to cook you a delicious dinner, or help you with your home improvement projects.

Countries I’ve Visited

American Samoa, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Samoa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, Spain, United States

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